Neurologic & Orthopedic Hospital Blog — Drs. Cerullo, Sheinkop & Gleiber, Chicago

Beijing Mission - Part 2

Our hotel is immediately across from the Beijing National Stadium where the opening ceremonies will take place (locally known as the Bird’s Nest because of the architecture). Designed by a Chinese architect, the blue swimming and water sport venue was deigned by an Australian architect It seems a copy of Soldier Field and Millennium Park’s band shell.

The Chinese people are as friendly as can be imagined with warmth and smiles. The girls are very fashion-conscious and the eye make up is amazing. I am told plastic surgery is exploding here and much of the eye makeup is permanently tattoed rather than applied daily.

This morning I walked over to the adjacent convention center owned and managed by the government to give a series of lectures. My physical therapy colleague presented the first formal PT talks ever given in China, as China has no formal physical therapy. After a surgical procedure the patient is totally dependent of family for assistance with no monitoring of outcomes.

So here is how it works. Patients have a choice as to where to go for surgery. Competition between hospitals is fierce but based on word of mouth as health care marketing is illegal. While the government pays for part of the hospital stay which is three weeks and relatively inexpensive, the patient pays for the surgeon and the implant. We are led to believe by US media that the Chinese population is well off, a joint replacement may require a five year wait as the family accumulates enough money to economically support the senior family member. Bear in mind that while there are 20 Chinese cities with populations over 10 million, that still leaves a billion people living in rural China. A patient is admitted 10 days before surgery so as to be made healthy. All hospitals in China with one or two exceptions are governmental financed. .001% of surgeons have travelled outside of China for training; anesthesia is almost universally general. Bad results are not recorded or monitored. An orthopedic surgeon earns about $1,000 per month and relies on “creativity” to afford living here. The goal of orthopedic surgery in China is different from that in the US in that while all patients desire pain relief, in China the desired functional end result is walking, squatting and biking. The first lecture series in the morning was to the JST Hospital staff, the best equipped hospital in Beijing with 800 orthopedic beds. 20 operating rooms in the JST are equipped with state of the art artificial intelligence while there are no such ORs in Chicago. In the afternoon I gave a series of lectures for three hours at the Peking University Third Hospital modernized two years ago. I did rounds with three patients per room but quite comfortable, and immaculate.

Four lectures, 20 minutes each tomorrow.

Mitch

The Neurologic & Orthopedic Hospital Blog was created to provide insightful brain, back, and joint information to people that struggle to find the right path in the maze of healthcare-related decisions they face today. The power of the internet is transforming health information and empowering people to take a front seat in managing their own health; correspondingly it has inspired Doctors Leonard Cerullo and Mitchell Sheinkop to share NOHC's cutting-edge resources with the online community.

Our interactive team will be posting periodic updates to the Neurologic & Orthopedic Hospital of Chicago Blog.

We hope that you will take a few seconds to subscribe to our future postings and look forward to providing you with valuable healthcare information for a successful treatment outcome and a speedy recovery.